the death toll rises in japan amid the quake and tsunami devastation. today, worries are growing about the crisis at nuclear plants. in just minutes, local leaders will be meeting to discuss the disaster situation in japan. we'll show you how you can help. as the damage cleanup resumes today in santa cruz, we now have this video of the moment the surge of waves hit the harbor. that story and more on ktvu channel 2 news at noon.

good afternoon. topping our news, the u.s. is stepping up relief efforts to help japan recover from last week's massive earthquake and tsunami. the death toll also continues to rise and concern is growing over the threat of a possible nuclear plant meltdown. craig boswell begins our coverage with this report. >> reporter: just days after the devastating and deadly earthquake and tsunami in japan, help is arriving. two u.s. search and rescue teams are on the ground to assist operations from dozens of other countries. 75-member u.s. teams include at least 12 rescue dogs from los angeles. >> the united states will continue to offer any assistance we can as japan recovers from multiple disasters. we will stand with the people of japan in the difficult days ahead. >> reporter: tensions are also high for those trying to get in

touch with loved ones. >> the phones were busy all the time. there was no way we could connect. >> reporter: helicopters are using the deck of the uss ronald reagan as a staging area. meantime, a second hydrogen explosion at the nuclear plant raised fears of a complete meltdown. 17 u.s. military personnel returning were exposed to low levels of radiation. the disaster has sparked questions about nuclear energy use. >> i don't think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a good time to be making american domestic policy. i think we ought to concentrate on helping the japanese any waywe can. >> reporter: the white house issued a statement saying the administration is committed to learning from the events in japan and making sure nuclear energy is produced safely. at the nuclear plant, operators are working

frantically to prevent a meltdown. the second of two hydrogen explosions created the huge mushroom cloud over the city. the fuel rods were also exposed for a second time today after a steam vent failed to open. that raises the risk of overheating and a possible meltdown. managers say they cannot rule out a partial meltdown so far. they say the containment dome is is holding, however. but more than 180,000 people have evacuated the area to avoid possible radiation exposure. in the the meantime, the navy says members of three helicopter crews on the uss reagan were easily decontaminated with soap and water. out today, new video of the moment the quake hit. intense shaking actually split a road open. you can see there the asphalt

moving while a camera was revolving. these images are. witnesses say the town was submerged by the tsunami about 30 minutes after the earthquake. this area took the full force of the tsunami. officials say as many as 10,000 people are missing in this province. that's more than half the town's population. japanese news agencies are reporting 2,000 bodies washing up on shore in two different areas. the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in japan is already having a major impact on business there. toyota announced it has closed all 12 of its domestic auto plants at least through wednesday because of the shortage of electricity. toyota said it would have produced 40,000 vehicles in that time.

other companies have also scaled back to preserve power. with tragedies of this size, there's always a great need for help and donations from overseas. janine is live now to let us know what's happening to provide assistance. >> reporter: good afternoon. in just a couple minutes, a meeting is about to get underway here at the japanese community and cultural center in japan town. japanese leaders and a representative from the consulate's office will be talking about the response they've gotten as far as relief is concerned. >> immediately, they need food, water, blankets. we're going to be sending funds over this morning to a group of non-profit organizations to get supplies to the shelters and some of the areas most hardest hit. >> reporter: over at red cross in san francisco, representatives say the best way people in the bay area can

help is by donating money through the website. the japanese red cross is mobilized on the ground by providing medical help. there are workers on stand by ready to go in case they're called. >> the best way for you to help is to provide a donation so we can purchase those supplies. >> reporter: red cross spokeswoman spent a year teaching english in an area that was hit hard by the quake. she is keeping in touch with her students through the internet. >> it's really hard. when you're a red cross worker, you're used to dealing with disasters, but it's hard when it's one of your homes that's been hit. >> reporter: and if you would like to help, you can text the word red cross to the number 90999, and that will

automatically send $10 -- it will charge $10 to your cell phone account, and that money will be going to the red cross disaster relief fund. to get more information on how you can donate or help, go to our website at ktvu.com. we'll have a link to get you all the that information. >> all right. thank you. as we mentioned, the death toll is growing in japan, but with so many thousands of people missing, the numbers are very preliminary. the official body count is about 1900. there are reports quoting police who say the number of confirmed dead has risen above 5,000. some people believe the final death count will be in the tens of thousands of people. another 15,000 people have been rescued. more than half a million people have been evacuated to about 2500 shelters. reconstruction costs are expected to top $180 million. you can learn more about how to make donations to earthquake and tsunami relief efforts by going to ktvu.com. look under the japan quake tab.

we also have ktvu reporter janna in japan. she's sending blog messages back to the website. the body of a man swept out to sea by tsunami waves in northern california has still not been found. the family of dustin weber says the 25-year-old had just moved to crescent city from bend, oregon, to get a fresh start after battling drug addiction. he was taking pictures of the waves when he was pulling into the ocean along with two other men. the others were rescued, but weber is presumed to have drowned. this is the first west coast tsunami death since 1964 when 11 people in crescent city died from a surge created by an earthquake in alaska. part of the santa cruz harbor reopened today after suffering serious damage due to friday's tsunami, but it's still not open for boat traffic. craig explains why the delay,

plus he has new video. >> reporter: dramatic new video shot on a cell phone shows the wave surge barging into the harbor and indiscriminately scooping up everything in its path. this is the aftermath. the process is slow and time consuming, raising 18 boats from underneath the surface of the harbor. divers placed intertubes under the capsized frames and pumped air into the tubes to lift the boats. not out of the water, but high enough for a tow into the launch area. the main concern, fuel spills. >> when they have that capped off, that will lessen or probably even reduce completely the opportunity for fuel to leak out. >> reporter: crews are rushing to get the boats out of the water because of a high surf advisory starting at 11:00 a.m. this morning. >> until 11:00 p.m. we're expecting seas of up to 15 or 16 feet. >> reporter: everywhere you look at the harbor, there's a boat under water.

the tsunami surge lifted boats only to set them down on top of or underneath docks. in addition to the 18 boats they know are under water, there are another 12 unaccounted for. crews are using big cranes to pull the boats out >> but in addition to the loss of property with boats, there's also another big loss. an economic loss. the damage estimates are up to $17 million. that doesn't include lost business. >> we're open, but we're not doing business on the the water. >> reporter: so far, just three of the estimated 30 boats have been pulled from the water. >> the national weather service is upgrading a website for tsunami warnings. officials say the west coast and alaska tsunami warning center websites slowed to a crawl last friday as people logged ton get information about the tsunami. they added more bandwidth to

fix the problem, but budget cuts could make it difficult to coordinate a complex system that provides tsunami information. rain greeted commuters for the beginning of the workweek here in the area. right now, we're in a bit of a lull, but another one is on the way and should bring showers as early as tonight. after rain tomorrow, things should clear up and be clear until rain returns thursday night. rose will be up in about 8 minutes with a full updated forecast. also, people in a bay area congregation say they have been evicted from their church, and today they are protesting. thousands of california students are converging on the state x including many from the bay area. we'll explain why. work crews on a school campus can mean improvements to the educational process, but in this case, it means recovery from a devastating attack.

b.a.r.t. finally got two cars off the tracks at 4:00 this morning. they derailed yesterday morning. b.a.r.t. engineers are still trying to figure out why. things ran normally through concord during this morning's commute, however b.a.r.t.

did have a track-side problem in san francisco. that caused 10 minute delays, but b.a.r.t. had that problem repaired by 6:30. in oakland, more bad news for a school after it was devastated by van dams. john joins us live from the scene where the staff is trying to pick up the pieces. >> reporter: this is east oakland pride academy where the school is devastated today. you can see crews back there. right now they're inside the portables. they have been making repairs to all the portable classrooms here. that's because 30 classrooms were broken into over the weekend and severely vandalized. numerous items were stolen, including six or eight apple computers from the computer lab. also, even a safe was take frighten the principal's office. the staff told me here this kind of break-in has happened several times in recent years, but this is the worst. the damage is clearly thousands of dollars if not tens of thousands of dollars.

because of the damage, broke -- classes were dismissed this morning. i want to show you a couple things about this school. take a look at the doors here. these doors on the portables have this extra security. that bar to hold the door shut. it did work in this case. all the portables have the same thing. in these cases, none of them were broken in by going through the doors. what people did over the weekend at some point, they came in and ripped these grates off the windows and broke through the glass to get in the classrooms. what's still unclear is how they actually got into the main school building here to actually access the principal's office and access the computer lab. we're going to try to find autothat out and bring it to you later in the day. >> all right. thank you, john. there could be a crucial vote today in governor brown's plan to solve california's huge budget crisis. brown wants state voters to decide whether to extend seams,

personal income, and vehicle taxes to close california's $26 billion deficit. he's still trying to get the support of republicans to put his plan on the june 7 ballot. the governor's hoping to get the support today, several days after missing his self-imposed deadline. thousands of community college students from across california are in the state capital today today rally against college funding cuts. students from evergreen valley college in san jose were among those gathering in sacramento for the march in march protest. it began about 9:30 this morning. as many as 20,000 students are expected to participate from 91 community colleges. >> it is very visit call moment in the history of california community colleges. i'm delighted that our students are taking what they've learned to the steps of the politicians at the state capital. >> evergreen college students began their bus trip about 5:00 this morning. ktvu news was there.

today's message is for lawmakers to avoid anymore budget cuts to education. president barack obama this morning called on congress to rewrite the no child left behind law. >> in the 21st century, it's not enough to leave no child behind. we need to help every child get ahead. we need to get every child on a path to academic excellence. >> mr. obama says he would like the the law changes in time for the new school year next fall. she says the law has raised standards through regular testing, which identifies failing schools, but says it does not do enough to fix those schools. members of a richmond church marched outside a bank in oakland this morning saying the church has been a victim of an illegal eviction. the bible way church says it

borrowed money from a bank which later merged with torrey pines bank. the money was used to establish a childcare center. the church's pastor says they were the victims of predatory lending. >> we're here today to fight against eviction and predatory loans. we want our building back. we deserve our building. >> torrey pines bank said this morning they would send us a statement in response. so far, we have not received it. good afternoon. it is a mostly cloudy, soggy monday. giving you a peek at what's going on in san jose, where we're seeing a lit bit of sunshine. sitting in the low 60s at this hour. the rain finally winding down. just a few cells moving around and over the area as it continues to push off to the east. areas around half-moon bay reporting a little bit of drizzle. mountain view may be seeing a bit of this. if we shift just a little bit,

oakland into concord and perhaps danville this morning. we are definitely covered in gray. it is widespread and not likely to budge. we have more wet weather on the way. upper 50s, low 60s across the region at this time. sitting at 60 in oakland. 59 in concord. 58 in napa. even with the storm, we're above average for this time of year. these storms are relatively warm. satellite and radar, you can see the brunt of that storm now off to the east. look what is in store as we move through today. we are going to continue with the mostly cloudy skies, the onshore westerly flow, and this next storm already scooting closer to the coast. by tonight and into tomorrow, we're going to be wet once again. just a brief lull for the next few hours. your forecast into the evening, we are mostly gray. by 11:00, midnight, you can see off the coast a few sprinkles. tomorrow morning, we're waking up and wet once again. it's going to be a wet ride for most of us. make sure you plan ahead and give yourself some extra time.

we are looking at mostly cloudy skies. a little bit of drizzle for the afternoon. tonight, the next storm approaching. we are soggy as we move through most of the workweek. highs for today, not bad at all. you may need a raincoat, but it won't be a real thick one. we have widespread 60s out there. even 68 expected in san jose. your extended forecast. next storm rolling in tonight. we're wet on tuesday, leaving a basketball of scattered showers. wednesday and thursday, the next main storm moving in on thursday. that will keep us wet friday, saturday, and sunday. the weekend storm is going to be cooler. notice our overall highs in the afternoon dropping back into the mid-upper 50s. >> all right. thank you, rose mary. there's still no word from apple after the latest problem with clocks built into the the iphone. thousands of owners say when the clocks should have automatically reset an hour ahead for daylight saving time, they fell back an hour. it's the third time in six months these phones have had this kind of problem. last november, the phones did

not automatically revert from daylight saving time to standard time and on new year's day, the alarm clocks did not go off. still ahead, a local proposal. some yellow pages has some people angry today.

a $14,000 mistake now has transit officials trying to figure out what went wrong. the report says as many as 150 commuters were overcharged after they tried to put money on their clipper cards. the combined total for the charges came out to more than $14,000. the agency in charge of clipper cards says it's not sure what led to the glitch, but all commuters overcharged have been reimbursed. opponents of a proposed ban on the distribution of the yellow pages in san francisco held a rally this morning outside city hall. the san francisco board of supervisors is now considering an ordinance to ban the mass distribution of business directories.

the legislation looks to reduce paper waste and save money. union leaders say the move would cost jobs and hurt small businesses. if the ordinance passes, starting on october 1, the yellow pages would only with available at distribution centers. kids at one oakland elementary school got a special show this morning all about staying fit. the education theater put on a program at santa fe elementary aimed at teaching children about healthy living. there were a number of warrior experts there to encourage the kids to get fit and stay fit. coming up on ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00, in a few hours dawn will break on another day of rescue and recovery in japan. janna is in japan and will have

a live report on the devastation and the worldwide response. plus, find out how bay area cities alerted their residents about the coming tsunami and if those warnings were effective. those stories and more coming up in our next newscast. thanks for watching. have a great day.